I sold my soul last month. After fiercely debating the moral superiority of actual books to electronic e-readers such as the Kindle and Kobo, I went to the dark side and purchased the new touch Kobo at Chapters. And this is why...
I'm in the middle of reading "The Game of Thrones" series by George R.R. Martin. I was four books in at about 800 pages a piece and twenty bucks a pop when I came to the difficulty that happens every time I fly back home, how do I fit all of these books in my luggage? I realized that I probably should have splurged and bought the Kobo before I made it to book four so that I wouldn't have had to leave the other novels at home for my parents to enjoy but it's better late than never. And this way I was able to fit more jam in my luggage from PEI.
So how does an avid book collector find an e-reader? Well it's got its ups and downs but I have to admit I feel somewhat guilty about how much I do actually like it. For one, the books are cheaper on the online store and it is much smaller and easier to carry around in a purse. It also has wireless access to an online store so if you finish "The Hunger Games" at 10:30pm you don't have to wait for Indigo to open the next day to get your hands on "Catching Fire", you can just download it.
It does make it harder to lend books to people so I think that for the most part I will continue to buy actual novels for my personal favourites. And let's face it, they are much prettier on a shelf.
Sidenote: Game of Thrones is awesome. I've watched the first season on HBO and am loving the novels. Each chapter is told from a different character's perspective and the author likes to kill people off at random. Don't get too attached to anyone. I'm on the fifth book and am desperately seeking suggestions for my next great read.
